Ahh, 2013. I've been able to enjoy long stretches here at home for the first time, dating back to November 2011. Life has been busy and mostly on the road. Not sure if I mentioned it, but I took 19-20 trips last year. Worst part is that I don't even have enough miles to upgrade. I suppose that's the penalty of procrastination in mileage enrollment.

Of course this means that I'm heading to some good eats. But not before getting to work. Remember Snow White? I'd put those dwarves to shame. Hi ho, hi ho,......actually, I'm always working....sigh
First thing back, I got to wear some special clothes. Tool belt and all.
Took off a door and sanded it clean. By the way, 50 year old stain doesn't cooperate well. It likes to stay on the door.
Sanded even more stain off of four redwood walls. (please refer to my earlier statement about stain) and started laying the laminate flooring.
Two sanders, 60 sheets of sanding discs, nine boxes of flooring, eight hours, two sore knees and a wrenched back later, I was done! Well, actually I wasn't. The trim and baseboard needed to be installed as well.
Reward to self, a trip to one of my favorite places in Kalihi. The eatery is simply named, "The Pastele Shop", pronounced "Pah-tey-leh" for you rookies, ha ha.
Their menu is simple, but oh so good. The moment you walk in, the Puerto Rican spices fill the air and I know that I'm one step closer to Heaven.
At the counter, you get teased by their fried chicken, lumpia and turnovers. Don't let them tease you! Just buy some. The owner tells me, "Our fried chicken is good, you know?" and I agree with my whole heart and mouth full.
Then on to the star of the show, the pasteles. This is a combination plate of pastele, gandule rice and bakalao salad. The picture did not look this way for long. More like an empty plate.
It's a cozy mom and pops operation and delivers up comfort and food for the soul. Did I mention that I love this place?
Here are their hours. Please don't take my word for it, go down and try them for yourself. You'll be supporting a local business and moreso, a Kalihi one.

10 Responses to “Back to the hood”

On behalf of all Puerto Ricans, Jibaros, Boriqua Hawaiianos, I say thank you for the shout out. Yes, Puerto Rican flavors is one step close to heaven. But that's about it. Everything else Puerto Rican must be met with caution. haaaaaaa.

Bigislandkurt, braddah, the flavors! Wish we had more Puerto Rican eats here. I don't know how the avergage Puerto Rican looks so fit with such good food. I would be sumo size in no time. Thanks for reading and posting comment. And spicy....dats da flavah my braddah!

ylea, the floor is indeed hardwood, but there were too many separations and I've sanded enough wood in my days here at the ukulele shop. I wanted to lay something easy, in case I ever got ambitious to restore the floor. Let's just say I wouldn't hold my breath to see that happen, ha ha. Food was guuuuuuuud

Oooooh, Pasteles. I could use that along with the rest of the foods right now.

Funny how you mention the pronunciation. It must be an "only in Hawai`i" thing, as if you watch Youtube videos, you'll see that other people pronounce the word Pastele differently. I guess it's just like Malasada vs Malassada. In Hawai`i, there's the one "s" spelling, while outside of the islands, there is the two "s" spelling.

Regardless of spelling or pronunciation, the only thing that matters is that the food is good.

You know, I really don't know. I'd assume they have it here somewhere. I mean, they've got food from who knows how many regions in Mexico. There's food from Peru, Brazil, and who knows what other areas of South America. There's got to be Pasteles here somewhere.